Thursday, March 31, 2011

The April issue of Super Food Ideas features 10 recipes for meatballs. Since I have not tried Swedish meatballs before, I decide to give it a go. I want to make the sauce fairly thick liked the cheese fondue but I have no Gouda or cheddar cheese at home so I replace that with Kraft cheese. The result of using processed cheese is satisfying as the sauce is nice and smooth. Nutmeg and mixed spice are usually added into dessert or milk based sauce. I add some garlic to the sauce to enhance the taste. My family loves it and give it a 10 out of 10. I'm glad that I have discovered a new method of making meatballs.

Add onions, egg, cornflour and salt and pepper to the mince and mix well. Roll the meatballs into breadcrumb to make 20 meatballs.

Heat 1/2 cup oil in a pan and cook the meatballs in slow to medium heat until cooked.

Add flour and butter in a saucepan. Cook and stir until butter melted, gradually add milk until the sauce is smooth. Add garlic, nutmeg and mixed spice into the sauce and let it simmer for a few minutes. Add the processed cheese and reduce heat and simmer until the sauce thickened.

Pour the hot cheese sauce into a bowl, add the meatballs and garnish with chives. Serve with crusty bread.

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

One interesting thing I discovered from my last trip to Hong Kong was that people liked the word "Jumbo." When we walked pass the kiosk selling finger food in Hong Kong Disneyland, my nephew asked us to stop for a snack of jumbo chicken wings and jumbo sausage. One day we went to the fast food outlets for afternoon tea after a long day shopping, many people ordered jumbo chicken wings with drinks for afternoon tea. So having "Jumbo" food became a part of our trip in Hong Kong.

Wash the chicken wings and trim off excess fat. Poke the skewer through the chicken starting from the winglet part. Arrange the chicken onto a plate and marinate with the ingredients listed above. Keep fridge for at least 2 hours.

Pre-heat the oven at 180c, place the chicken wings onto a grease lined baking tray. Bake it for about 45 minutes or until cooked. Turn the chicken wings over 2 or 3 times in between cooking. Pour the thickened juice at the pan over the chicken. Serve it with chips and salad.

Monday, March 28, 2011

I always fancy how the professional chef can arrange a dish beautifully that is nearly too good to eat. I am pretty happy with the look of this Oshi Sushi (boxed sushi) as it is my first trial. The first thing my husband asks me is how to eat it. Unlike the rolled sushi, this sushi is liked a piece of cake. I try to eat it like a sandwich but it is too big to fit into the mouth, my daughter mush it all up and eat it with chopsticks, then I find the easiest and most respectable way to eat is using knife and fork. This sushi is suitable for sushi hunger as it has two favours instead of one. If you can't roll sushi, you should try this method and you would be surprised how easy it is to make and your guest would give you a WOW!

Cut the crab stick sideway into two long strips. Repeat the process for the rest of the crab sticks. Dip them into the egg, and cover with bread crumb. Cook it into a pan heated with 1/2 cup oil until it is golden brown. Absorb excess oil with kitchen paper and set aside.

Cook the egg for the topping and cut it into stripes and set aside.

Divide the rice into 3 equal portions. Wet your hands with water and press a portion of the rice into a square box that fit the size of the nori sheet. (I only use a cake box)

Lay the first nori sheet onto the rice, arrange the cucumber evenly along the nori, then add the salad leaves and mayonnaise. Finally add the crab sticks.

Cover the first layer with another nori sheet. Then cover it with the second portions of rice and press evenly. You may need to wet your hands again to prevent sticking.

Arrange avocado, then chicken evenly along the rice and cover it with the last nori sheet.

Lay the last portion of rice over the second layer and press evenly. Spread the egg strips onto the top and sprinkle with the rice seasoning.

Sunday, March 27, 2011

When the economy is down, people become more price conscious. Advertisers often use price to attract sales. There are ads showing you how to prepare family meal for less then $10, you can collect sales coupon to buy a second cup of coffee for $1.... etc. Businesses are trying to capture as much sales as possible during the tough time as consumers spending power drops. When everything seems becoming more expensive, what can you do with $1? I bought 4 large apples the other days and it cost over $1 each and $1 couldn't even pay for a packet of crackers. Then I saw this baked-at-home Vienna loaf for only $1, I grabbed it, baked it and tried to make this $1 product as delicious as it could be.

Garlic and Cheese Baked Vienna Loaf

Thaw the bread and bake it at a 180c oven for about 7 minutes, then score a few lines onto the bread, stuff in butter and garlic mince between each gap, sprinkle some dried basil, mozzarella cheese over the top and return the bread into the oven and bake for another 10 minutes or until the bread turns brown. Tear the bread into big pieces and sprinkle some feta cheese crumb and sweet chilli sauce.

Saturday, March 26, 2011

We are a bit tired of spaghetti bolognese, and the kids keep asking to have meatballs for dinner. I don't have much success in making meatballs as it always turn out very hard and it is quite time consuming to pan fried the balls. Then I use the method in making Chinese steamed patty for the meatballs. It is a much easier way to cook and the meatballs is tender and soft. To increase the fibre intake, I choose to use wholemeal pasta in this recipe although the plain one tastes smoother. Making this dish reminds me of the nursery song, "On top of spaghetti all covered with cheese, I lose my poor meatballs when somebody sneezed.......so if you eat spaghetti all covered with cheese, hold on to your meatballs and don't ever sneeze." Ah-chee!

Spaghetti Meatballs

(serve 4)

Ingredients:

280g lean pork mince or veal mince

2-3 fresh basil leaves, chopped

1/2 teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper

1 teaspoon salt

3 teaspoons cornflour

5 tablespoons water

For the sauce:

1 medium onion, cut into small pieces

1 small carrot, cut into small cube

1 small zucchini, cut into small cube

3-4 button mushroom, cut into small pieces

1/2 medium red capsicum, cut into small pieces

500g bottle pasta sauce

3/4 packet of 500g wholemeal spaghetti

1 tablespoon garlic

fresh basil and oregano leaves, chopped

250g water (1/2 of the pasta sauce bottle)

salt and pepper

parmesan cheese

Methods:

Marinate the pork mince with the herb, salt and pepper. Add the corn flour and water and mix until it is all combined and feels light. Let it stand for 30 minutes.

Heat olive oil in the saucepan, add the onion and garlic, stir for a minute. Then add the rest of the vegetables and cook till it is becoming soft. Pour the pasta sauce into the pan and add the water, turn down the heat and let it simmer for 20 minutes.

Roll the mince into meatballs about the size of a ping pong ball, drop it into the cooking sauce. Make 16 balls. Let it cook for another 20 minutes. Do not stir as it will break the meatballs. Add the chopped basil and oregano leaves over the sauce.

Meanwhile, cook the spaghetti following the packet direction, drain and arrange the cooked pasta on to 4 serving plates, leave a well in the middle.

Friday, March 25, 2011

Banana is an easy food to pack for kids lunch as it does not need any wrapping and can be stored at room temperature. After the crisis of flood and cyclone, the price of banana has gone nearly double in price. It would be a waste to throw away the over ripped banana. You can freeze them and use it for baking or making smoothies. I used to freeze them for my kids as a snack when they were toddlers. I have got two ripped bananas so I turned them into cupcakes for a yummy afternoon tea. This is a low fat recipe and you can substitute maple syrup for honey or golden syrup.

Combine the bananas, sugar, maple syrup and margarine in the mixing bowl. Beat with an electric whisk until well combined. Then add in the sifted flour, baking powder and salt and mix well. Fold in the chopped walnuts.

Spoon the batter into the cupcake cases. Bake for about 20 minutes or until the cake springs back when pressed. Remove the cakes from the oven and let cool for 5 minutes. Enjoy them while still warm.

This recipe is adopted and modified from the cookbook "500 cupcakes" by Fergal Connolly

Thursday, March 24, 2011

Kids school has a new tuckshop. It emphasis on healthy and nutritious food that nearly everything is made at the premies. It has weekly special introducing international food such as sushi, noodles, burritos and pasta to the kids. They have a taste testing session before it is officially opened and my kids love nearly everything it demonstrates. Lavash bread crisps with dips is one of the meal I'm interested in as it is a great alternative to potato or corn chips. This healthy snack is so easy to prepare for the growing kids. You can spray the bread with oil, add some herbs, spice and cheese before baking to enhance the flavour.

Cut the lavash bread into triangular shapes and place them onto a paper-lined baking tray. Bake at the 180c pre-heated oven for 10-15 minutes or until the crisps are crunchy and lightly brown. Let cool.

Mesh the avocado till fine then add the sour cream, pepper and lemon juice until it is well mixed. Add some cheese over the salsa just before serving.

Arrange the plate with the crisps and dips and enjoy the healthy snack!

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Besides pizza, pasta is my ABC kids (Australian Born Chinese) number one dish. They are delighted when pasta is served for dinner and always ask for second helping. I usually make chicken macaroni with cheese but this time I am trying a vegetarian version by adding in more greens and colours. There is no complain of too much vegetable and there is no left-over. Nice!

Pour water in a pot, salt and oil lightly, and cover to boil. Add the macaroni into the boiling water and stir to separate, turn off the heat and cover for 10-15 minutes or until al dente. Drain in a colander.

Heat oil in a saucepan, add in garlic and onion, stir for a minute until the onion is starting to soften. Then add in the rest of the vegetable except peas, stir for a minutes and then add the water. Let it simmers until the vegetable is half cooked, add the peas and pour in the evaporated milk and cream. Thicken the sauce with the cornflour mixture and season it with salt and pepper.

Lay the macaroni into a baking pan, pour the sauce over. Then sprinkle a handful each of the three kinds of cheese and bread crumb. Drizzle the top with 1 tablespoon of extra olive oil.

Bake the macaroni in a preheat 180c oven for 20 minutes then cover the pan with the lid or foil, bake for a further 10-15 minutes until the cheese melted and the top is browned.

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Green tea and red bean are the perfect match. The combination creates a subtle flavour when the sweetness of the bean paste blend in with the plain tea flavour making it so special, so Japanese. If you like green tea, you would like this muffins. Thinking of green tea, make me think of the Japanese people suffering from the earthquake and tsunami. Let's hope the country recover very soon, people get back to their life and safe for us to visit again.

Melt butter and milk in a saucepan. Leave it cool for a few minutes then beat in eggs. Add in flour, sugar and salt and mix well.

Dissolve green tea powder with the warm milk. Add to the cake mix and stir evenly.

Roll the red bean paste into 2cm round balls. Set aside.

Fill the muffin case 1/3 with cake mix, put a red bean paste ball into the middle then fill up the case about 3/4 full. Sprinkle some sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds over the top. Bake the muffins in a pre-heated 200c oven for 15-20 minutes or until cooked.

Monday, March 21, 2011

I have a box of Rice Bubbles cereal rejected by my kids as they are going back to the good old Weetbix for breakfast. The kids like the store bought snack bars and I find two recipes making them using Rice Bubbles. One is this muesli bars and the other is a nut crunch bars. The good thing making your own snack bars is that you can control the sweetness and putting in your favourite ingredients. Stay in tune for the nut crunch bars.

I find it a bit oily and still too sweet so I have reduced the amount of butter and sugar.

Combine butter, peanut butter, honey and sugar in a saucepan, stir constantly over heat without boiling until butter is melted and sugar is dissolved. Bring to boil, reduce heat, simmer uncovered for 1-2 minute, stir occasionally to prevent burn.

Stir the peanut butter caramel into the dry ingredients. Press into prepared pan, sprinkle sesame seeds over the surface. Leave it cool and cover it with gladwrap. Press again until it is firm enough and refrigerate it before cutting.

Note: The toasted muesli I use is combined with oats, dried fruit, almonds, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds and sesame seeds.

This recipe is adopted and modified from the cookbook of "Cake & Slices" published by the Australian Women's Weekly.

Sunday, March 20, 2011

I often like to use puff pastry to make a quick dessert. There is a punnet of blueberry in the fridge and I want to make something different besides of making muffins and pancake. We actually had the tart as an afternoon snack instead of a dessert. It's just nice to have a treat on a Sunday afternoon. You can substitute blueberry for other bottled jam to make the tart. The blueberry syrup is also nice to pour over pancake, you just omit the thickening procedure.

Combine blueberry and maple syrup in a small saucepan. Cook with medium heat until it boils, let it boils for a few minutes until the juice turn purple.

Add the lemon juice and the cornflour mix to make a thick berry jam. Cut the pastry into 4 squares. Lay one of the square in a diamond shape facing you, then fold up the 4 corners to form a new square shape.

Spoon in 1/4 of the berry jam and fold up the corners edges of the pastry to making a round shaped tart. Or you can seal the edges to form a pretty scallop pattern.

Brush the sides of the tarts with egg and place the tarts on a line-greased baking tray. Bake it in a preheat oven at 230c for about 10 minutes or until golden brown. Garnish it with lemon rind and serve with ice-cream.

Saturday, March 19, 2011

This is one of my favourite lunch special at our local French restaurant. The place has set lunch offering a choice of main and dessert. At dinner time, it is the choice of a three course meal. I like the set dinner idea as I don't have to worry over ordering and know how to pay for before my booking. Quiche and Cream Brulee are the popular dish on the menu. Their seafood quiche is my favourite that it is so rich and buttery. I have great difficulty in choosing French dessert, I wish I could have every one of them listed on the menu. Bon Appetite!

Heat the pan with oil, add in onion, garlic, chicken and finally add in the mushroom. Stir through the ingredients until they are nearly cooked. Add in water, milk and cream and let it steams for a minute or two.

Season the chicken and mushroom with salt and pepper. Thicken the sauce with the cornflour mix. The sauce should be quite thick, thicken it with more cornflour mix if needed.

You'll need 6 sheets of filo pastry for each parcel. Lay out the first 2 sheets of pastry, brush it throughly with oil. Then add 2 more sheets of pastry over the 1st layer and brush it with oil again. Finally add the last 2 sheets of pastry over the 2nd layer. Put 1/4 of the chicken and mushroom mix onto the pastry and gently fold over the two sides and top sides as in a parcel shape. Brush over the top with extra oil and sprinkle it with paprika.

Preheat the oven at 180c. Place the filo parcels onto the grease lined baking tray and bake for about 20-25 minutes or until the edges turn golden. Serve with green salad.

Thursday, March 17, 2011

For being a carnivore, red lentil sounds like the food from Mars to me. One day at soccer training, we have been chatting about dinner and one of the soccer mum says she is having red lentil bolognese. I don't have much cooking ideas for red lentil besides making patties or soup. Later, I look at my dusty vegetarian cookbook trying to find a recipe of it. This sweet potato and red lentil soup is similar to pumpkin soup but filled with the goodness of protein due to the lentil. It is nice to have a warm thick soup to fill up the tummy on a cold day or if you are like me, love soup for all seasons, this soup should warm your soul.

Heat oil in a large saucepan, add onion and spices stir for a few minutes until it is soft. Add the potato, lentils and water last and bring it to boil. Then reduce heat and simmer for 40 minutes or until the potato is soft and the lentil is dissolved.

Blend the soup mixture with a handhold soup mixer until smooth or blend it in the food processor in several batches. Add more water if needed and season it with salt and pepper. Reheat it before serving.

This recipe is adopted and modified from the cookbook Vegetarian Cooking published by The Australian Women's Weekly.

Sunday, March 13, 2011

Every time when I take my kids to the supermarket, our trolley usually end up more than I would have expected. They would put in stuffs that their friends have for lunch at school and the temptation from the isle full of chips and lollies are just too much. But this time they have put in some quite interesting things into my trolley, little fruit. They are amazed with the shape and size of the little fruit and could not wait to pack it for lunch for school. The taste of the Sugar Plum is sweet but the skin is not too tough or sour, and the taste of Paradise Pear is like apple which is crispy and fresh. There is no better snack than fruit and I am happy that they choose to have it. There is no need to cook, simply wash it and enjoy the natural taste.

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

On one weeknight, my daughter told me that she wanted to have an apple pie. Then my son heard the conversation and he was so excited about having dessert for the night. I don't usually make dessert on weekdays as we are too busy to think of something so indulgent. I had some green apples and puff pastry and I had this calzone looking thing in my mind, perhaps I could make an easy dessert to make the kids happy. It turned out very good and everyone had been spoiled by this simple dessert.

Apple Turnover
(make 4)

1 sheet of pastry
2 green apple
cinnamon
raw sugar
egg, beaten

Method:

Peel and diced the apple into 1cm x 1cm cube. Cook the apple in boiling water just covering the surface of the apple until the apple is tender.

Drain the excess juice and sweeten the apple with sugar, add in some cinnamon and leave cool.

Cut the pastry into 4 little equal sized square. Cut off the 4 little corners of each square.

Brush the edges of the pastry with the egg. Spoon 1/4 of the stewed apple diagonally onto the square then fold it up and seal tightly. Brush extra egg over the turnover and sprinkle extra sugar over. Repeat the process for the remaining pastry.

Preheat the oven at 230c, lined the baking tray with baking paper and bake the turnovers until they are puff and golden brown. Serve warm with ice-cream.

Saturday, March 5, 2011

I have a collection of miniature food that I adore them so much. When I'm on a diet or feeling blue, it can satisfy my craving for food or make me happy after a good look at them. It would be nice if they are all real so I can take a sample of each. Maybe I should imitate them and cook a collection of real food, and that would be a challenge to improve my cooking skill. Let's start with the chocolate cake as a practice as it is the easiest one to make and it will not last in my household as everyone loves chocolate.

Rich Chocolate and Walnut Cake

Ingredients:

185g butter

2 teaspoons vanilla essence

1 1/2 cups caster sugar

3 eggs

2 cups self-raising flour

80g milk chocolate buttons, melted

2/3 cup cocoa

3/4 cup water

Chocolate Icing:

90g dark chocolate, chopped

30g butter

1/4 cup icing sugar

1 teaspoons hot water

1/3 cup chopped walnuts for garnish

Method:

Combine butter and sugar and beat until fluffy in a large bowl. Add in eggs on at a time then add in sifted flour, cocoa, melted chocolate and water. Beat on low speed with an electric mixer until the ingredients are combined. Increased speed to medium and beat until mixture is smooth and changed colour.

Spread the batter into a lined 23cm round cake pan. Bake in moderate oven for about 45 minutes to 1 hour or until the skewer comes clean when test in the cake.

Melt chocolate and butter at medium heat in a microwave. Only press to cook for few seconds each time in the microwave for several times until the chocolate and butter melted so you won't burn the chocolate. Sift in icing sugar and enough water to mix to a spreadable consistency. Icing the cake with chocolate when it is completely cool and garnish it with walnuts around the edge.

The recipe is adopted and modified from Cakes & Slices Cookbook published by the Australian Women's Weekly.

About Me

Welcome to Veronica's Kitchen at Veronica's Journey to the West. I was born and raised in Hong Kong. Have been living in Australia for many years. This blog features my culinary journey of western food using simple and real ingredients that are easy to prepare. I hope by following my journey, you and I will enrich our cooking skills of western food and understanding of the Australian culture.